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Would you love to grow your own vegetables but think it’s too much hassle? Well, a company in Dallas may have a solution that’s just perfect for you. A new aquaponic planter created by Lettuce Evolve could make fertilizing and harvesting your vegetables simple, green and clean.

Growing vegetables can be hard work. All that weeding, watering and pest control can put busy urban dwellers off from even trying. However a system that sustains itself, that is green, clean and can even double as an aquarium could make growing your own food attainable and fun. According to Lettuce Evolve, aquaponics is a combination of hydroponics and aquaculture. Combining the two systems creates a system that is symbiotic, as the “Plants filter the water by using the fish waste as fertilizer”, and then return clean water back to the fish”.

The base holds 50 gallons of water, including the fish. The fish waste is pumped up to the planter where they fertilize the plants. However, the system need not accommodate fish – a nutrient solution can be added to the tank to act as the fertilizer, which, as Murphy from Lettuce Evolve says “can be purchased at garden and hydroponic stores”. There are many ways to set up an Aquaponics Planter, however using fish makes an elegant nutrient cycle that is green, relatively easy to manage, and provides the owner with an interesting aquarium to play with.

The planter is also quite compact and utilizes many levels for growing – it’s only 58″ tall with a base of 34.5″ x 30″ – so it’s perfect for small spaces. The planter can be used indoors and outdoors and starts at 000, which could pay for itself many times over. According to Lettuce Evolve the system also uses 98% less water than traditional farming. Vertical farming has indeed been hailed as a solution to many of the environmental problems associated with how we grow our food, as it saves space, energy and water. In fact, indoor farming is already a reality in Japan where land is at a premium. As the world becomes increasingly overpopulated, vertical gardening could save rare habitats from going under the plough while making our homes more self-sufficient and green.